10 October 2007

10th October 2007

10:20 PM — The President of Iran claims he was misrepresented by Western media when he was quoted as saying that there are no gays in Iran. A presidential aide now says that he simply meant not as many as in the United States.Last month, PinkNews.co.uk quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad saying: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country... In Iran we do not have this phenomenon, I don't know who has told you that we have it."

4:17 PM — One of the best-known syndicated newspaper columns in the work, Dear Abby, has backed gay marriage.The column, which has been dispensing common sense to troubled Americans since 1956, also spoke out against homophobic slurs and parents who disown kids who come out to them."I believe if two people want to commit to each other, God bless 'em," she told Associated Press. "That is the highest form of commitment, for heaven's sake."

2:21 PM — A peeping Tom from Stoke has been found guilty of spying on a lesbian couple having sex in their bedroom, and put on the sex offenders register.Dean Burton, 36, was also given a 51-week suspended jail sentence. He had his previous community order for indecent exposure extended for peering through a window and watching the couple naked.Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that Burton had known the couple previously.

2:03 PM — T.R. Knight, who plays surgical intern Dr George O'Malley in hit TV show Grey's Anatomy, has recorded an advert to mark National Coming Out Day in the US.The Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today premiered the 20-second spot, which features Knight telling viewers how important it is to accept their gay friends and family members.National Coming Out Day is observed in the US every October 11th.

1:35 PM — A leading children's charity has said that playground taunts may lead to arrests under a proposed new law.On Monday the Justice Secretary announced that incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation would become an offence in the new Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill before Parliament.Kidscape, who work with bullied and vulnerable children, said that the use of the word "gay" among children is so prevalent that many did not even understand what it means.

1:11 PM — Two Canadian soldiers on leave from Afghanistan have been arrested and charged with beating up a gay man in Amsterdam.The men, both 22, were confirmed by Dutch police to have been arrested on May 26th and charged with attempted manslaughter, attempted criminal negligence causing bodily harm and public violence.Dutch media report that prosecutors have pushed for an eight-month jail term for one of the offenders, while the other soldier faces six weeks in prison.

12:27 PM — A European Union decision to declare today European Day Against the Death Penalty was blocked by Poland.The Polish government insisted that the day also include condemnations of abortion and euthanasia and used its veto to stop the declaration.However, the Council of Europe does not need a unanimous vote on such matters, and it has declared today European Day Against the Death Penalty.

12:27 PM — A senior politician in Uganda has pledged to block gay rights in the country.James Nsaba Buturo, Minister for Ethics and Integrity, told All Africa news agency that the government is committed to stopping LGBT people "trying to impose a strange, ungodly, unhealthy, unnatural, and immoral way of life on the rest of our society."Last week the country's Minister for Youth and Children's Affairs said new legislation would be brought forward on homosexuality.

12:14 PM — The questionable and untimely death of Specialist Ciara Durkin, a service member with the Massachusetts Army National Guard who was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head on September 27th, has not gone unnoticed.Late last week Democratic Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, along with Congressman William Delahunt and the Servicemembers Legal Defence Network (SLDN), made headlines by calling on Pentagon officials to conduct a full and thorough investigation into the incident that occurred while Durkin was serving in Afghanistan.

11:37 AM — Same-sex couples in Oregon had ample reason to celebrate last night, as opponents of the US state's recently passed domestic partnership law failed to gather enough signatures to put a referendum overturning the measure on the November 2008 ballot.Opponents needed 55,179 valid, unduplicated signatures for the referendum to move forward.Although nearly 63,000 signatures were turned in to state officials, only 55,063 of them were found to be valid and unduplicated.

11:31 AM — A gay nightclub in Birmingham has escaped closure as allegations of noise pollution by local developers were proved to be false.A licensing committee decided that the Nightingale could stay open after consulting the council's own surveys which were based on just two complaints in two years and were found to be well within legal limits.PinkNews.co.uk had reported that the local council received complaints from developer Crosby House.

11:21 AM — London club promoter Jeremy Joseph has revealed that the inaugural G-A-Y awards will be televised on Sky One on Saturday 1st December to coincide with the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day.The awards will be held at the London Astoria on the 29th and 30th November, where it will be filmed by Double Jab Productions.The G-A-Y awards aim to play tribute to the stars that have played at the Saturday night club night, including some of the biggest names of pop, such as Kylie Minogue, The Spice Girls and Madonna.

11:16 AM — Moldovan authorities have "to ensure full respect of the fundamental rights of all minorities, including sexual minorities."That is the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of of the Council of Europe (PACE) entitled About functioning of democratic institutions in Moldova.The resolution is based on the report of the monitoring committee about the honouring of obligations and commitments by Moldova and adopted by PACE earlier this month.

10:51 AM — A toy doll fights HIV and AIDS, as G.I. Jonny leads the fight against Captain Bareback's crotch cannon, armed only with his protector shield and powerful fisting action.It's all part of a series of comedy sketches specially commissioned by the BBC for an information campaign which attempts to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS among 16- 34 year olds.The BBC's HIV awareness campaign started running on October 1st.

10:21 AM — Hundreds of Singaporeans are calling for the government to decriminalise homosexual sex, ahead of a parliamentary debate on the first overhaul of criminal law in Singapore in a quarter century.Under the proposed changes to be debated later this month, oral and anal sex between consenting heterosexual adults will no longer be considered an offence.However, the same acts between men, will remain illegal with a maximum penalty of two years in jail.

10:03 AM — Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was threatened and slandered as a paedophile when he attended the Al Quds pro-Palestinian march and rally in London last Sunday, 7 October 2007.The Al Quds demonstration was supported by the left-wing Respect Party, 1990 Trust, Muslim Association of Britain, Islamic Human Rights Commission, Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Federation of Student Islamic Societies.The post-march Trafalgar Square rally was addressed by the Respect Party MP, George Galloway.

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